


Battle

by Rawrpeep



Series: The GhiraLink Hogwarts AU No One Asked For [7]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Action, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Animagus, Battle of Hogwarts, Dementors, Kinda, M/M, Patronus Charm (Harry Potter), general HP knowledge recommended, ghirahim knows how to lead troops, the grand finale folks, the violence isn't too graphic but it's a battle sooo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rawrpeep/pseuds/Rawrpeep
Summary: Year 7.  Link and Ghirahim take part in the Battle of Hogwarts.
Relationships: Ghirahim/Link (Legend of Zelda)
Series: The GhiraLink Hogwarts AU No One Asked For [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942447
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Battle

**Author's Note:**

> HERE WE ARE, FRIENDS, AT THE FINALE! And let me tell you, this one is a _doozy._ Action and angst _galore!_ I’d say more, but I’m afraid I might spoil some things, so I hope you enjoy!

**Battle**

Ghirahim seethed. Most of the Slytherin students, including himself, had been pushed back into the dungeons when the Dark Lord’s message had rattled the castle’s walls, thanks to the prejudice most of the school held against their house. He’d heard plenty of the free students muttering about how he and his housemates would only add more enemies to the field, and it was _infuriating._ The demon paced the entryway like a captive beast and his housemates kept their distance. He turned to look at them all.

“And _why_ ,” he nearly growled, “are you all _perfectly fine_ with staying cooped up in here? We’re students, too, and deserve to join the battle if we please.”

“Yeah right,” one of the sixth years shot back with a glare, “we’re all just a bunch of _baby Death Eaters_ according to them. Even muggleborns. They just don’t want extra enemies, and anyone in green qualifies.”

“I don’t give a _damn_ what side you’re on,” Ghirahim returned, speaking to all of them. They all looked taken aback. “If you want to fight, you should be allowed to fight. If not, then you should bunker down in your dorms and wait this out.”

“What do you know? You’re not even from this world!” One of his fellow seventh year students shouted, angry. Ghirahim glared back, responding with a much calmer tone.

“I am a _demon lord,_ ” he stated, “I am the spirit of a sword wielded by an ancient evil, and I commanded countless _armies_ on my Master’s behalf in his war against a Goddess.” Ghirahim stood tall, pride radiating from him. “I was moments away from reviving him when I appeared in this world, in front of the Veil in the Department of Mysteries.” He started pacing again, trying to boost the confidence of his fellow Slytherins.

“I have _far_ more experience with war than any of you, or your parents, could ever comprehend. I have slain _countless_ enemies, and I made it as _bloody_ as I could. The gem in my hilt was dyed red with it all,” he absently touched his chest, “This is _war,_ children. You won’t be spared simply for your age. You have every right to defend yourselves, but if your strive for success, you’ll need allies.”

“We’re _not_ throwing our lives away for _your_ sake,” the seventh year from before growled. Ghirahim tossed his hair and side-eyed the student.

“I’m not asking you to,” he replied simply, “As I said, I don’t care _which_ side you’re on, but if you want to fight, then you should fight.”

“H-how do we gain allies?” A tiny first year piped up, stepping forward.

“You fight by someone’s side or offer them backup help,” the demon paused, “if they’re in a tight spot, then saving them works as well.”

The castle shook, some dust fluttering down from the ceiling. The battle had begun. Ghirahim decided to wrap up his speech.

“My enemy, the biggest thorn in my side as I tried to revive my Master, appeared here when I did. You all know him as that quiet Gryffindor that sometimes sits at our table. I know him as the Goddess’ Chosen Hero. He is, as I’m sure you can all understand, an _ally of convenience._ ”

_He is more to me than a mere ally now, but these children don’t need to know that._

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” asked a fifth year.

“If we survive this battle, I’ll show you my memories of my home in a Pensieve. I’ll take Veritaserum if that’s not enough.”

The student looked down and Ghirahim straightened his posture again.

“It’s time to make your decision. I am going to call him, and he will come down here to break us out. If you want to avoid the fight, then hide in your dorms, or find another secure location. If you want to fight...” Ghirahim turned toward the door.

“...Then fight. Expecto Patronum!” He twirled his wand in a short counter-clockwise spiral, and his bird-of-paradise popped out with a trill. He smiled at it.

“Skychild, I need you down in the dungeons for a jail break. There may be guards. Tread carefully.” The bird spread out its feathers, nodding at the message, and took off through the wall. Ghirahim turned back toward the Slytherins, who were staring at him in awe of his corporeal patronus. He tapped his foot.

“Well? If you’re going to hide, then I suggest you do it now.”

Most of the younger students scurried away to their dorms, while the older ones remained.

They’d show them all what Slytherins were capable of.

\--------------------------

Link dropped and rolled, firing off a stunner at his attacker, who collapsed in a heap when the spell hit. The hero jumped to his feet and took off deeper into the castle, leaving the Imperius’d student on the ground. If he could avoid killing his classmates, he would. They weren’t the enemy here. He continued on, turning down a dark corridor.

He was worried for Ghirahim. The demon would _never_ pass up a chance to fight, and the fact that he wasn’t anywhere to be found was alarming. Link _needed_ to find him. What if his former enemy was injured or trapped? The thought spurred him on faster. After another turn, Link felt a chill go down his spine, accompanied by familiar incomprehensible whispers. He whirled around to face the dementor, the Patronus Charm’s incantation on his lips-

The bird that appeared wasn’t his. Rather, it was Ghirahim’s bird-of-paradise. It flew toward the dementor, which recoiled, and circled back around Link. Surprised, the hero locked eyes with the bird. It opened its mouth, and Ghirahim’s voice came out.

_“_ _Skychild, I need you down in the dungeons for a jail break. There may be guards. Tread carefully.”_

The bird disappeared.

Link turned to move toward the dungeons, but the dementor was on him again. The relief he felt that his former enemy was okay was what fueled his patronus. The loftwing burst out and pushed the creature back, looping toward its caster to cover him.

“Thanks.” Link smiled at the silvery bird, moving as quickly as he could to the dungeons. He found a couple of his fellow Gryffindors, that he never bothered to learn the names of, guarding the Slytherin common room. He thought they may have been fifth years.

“Stop!” The shorter of the two guards cried out. “We’ve got this- get back to the fight! The snakes won’t be escaping anytime soon.”

Unimpressed, Link stared blankly at them as he fired off two stunners in rapid succession.

“Ghirahim, can you hear me?” he called, getting right up next to the door. He heard a muffled confirmation from the other side of it, and thought he heard something like “locked.” He dispelled his patronus, took a few steps back, and raised his wand.

“Stand back! I’m going to attack the door.” Link waited for a moment before firing off a Blasting Curse.

The door imploded.

\------------------------------

Ghirahim tossed up a Shield Charm just in time, as did several other students. When the dust cleared, he saw Link standing on the other side of the destruction and grinned. The hero grinned back.

“Skychild, you made it!” The demon approached his former enemy, tossing an arm around him in a half-hug. He flashed the Slytherins a satisfied grin.

“Well? Fight or flight, kids, get to it.” Without a second glance, Ghirahim turned himself and Link away, and they took off back down the corridor. The demon let out a laugh as they ran.

“A _Blasting Curse_? Oh, Skychild, I didn’t know you had it in you!”

“Shhhh! We don’t know how many enemies are down here.” The laugh abruptly stopped.

“They’ve broken in?”

“Some students are under Imperius, and I had to fend off a dementor.”

“...Shit.”

“If we can sneak out-” the blond paused, realization dawning in his eyes. Ghirahim raised an eyebrow. “That’s it! Our animagus forms are small and fast. Let’s transform.”

The demon said nothing in response, simply smiling and shrinking into his shrike while the hero became a fox. Once they made it out of the dungeons, Link yipped and angled his massive ears toward a window. Ghirahim chirped lightly in acknowledgment and flew toward it to peer outside.

There were… a _lot_ of bodies. The demon-turned-bird couldn’t tell the ones that were dead from the ones that were merely stunned. The Death Eaters and their allies were pouring out of the Forbidden Forest in waves, and the school’s defenders were being pushed back inside. He squawked in alarm and fluffed up his feathers, diving away from the windowsill to land on the fox’s head. The avian’s body language was enough for the mammal to clearly understand that things were _not_ going well. Unsettled, they moved on.

They found themselves in the Entrance Hall, where a large part of the fight was concentrated. The shrike landed on the fox again, and after a quick survey of the area, Ghirahim felt Link’s fur begin to bristle beneath his feet. He looked in the direction the hero’s ears were perked toward and saw a couple of Death Eaters sneaking up on a pair of fourth and fifth years. He braced himself to change back as the fox rushed forward to sink his fangs into one of the dark wizards. The man yelped at the bite, alerting the students, while Ghirahim hit both Death Eaters with an Exploding Charm. The students took the opportunity to disarm and stun their enemies, and Link transformed back to himself, spitting out his victim’s blood and what looked like a chunk of flesh and fabric.

The hero and the demon locked eyes and ran outside as an explosion sounded from somewhere in the castle.

\-------------------------

Link cursed under his breath, dragging Ghirahim off to the side when the giants started attacking the school. They took a moment to catch their breath, huddled in the shadow of one of the towers. This was nothing like Link had ever seen, and he wondered if this was what the Surface had looked like before Skyloft became airborne. He voiced his question between breaths, panting hard.

“Yes,” Ghirahim returned, just as worn as he was, “but on a much larger scale.” Link swallowed, eyeing his friend.

“What if we don’t survive this?” The hero choked slightly, eyes prickling a bit as reality crashed down on them. “Why are we even fighting? This isn’t _our_ war. We were just… dropped into it and told to pick a side...”

“Sky-” Ghirahim began before shaking his head and putting his hands on the hero’s shoulders, “ _Link_ , listen to me. War isn’t pretty, and it’s nearly _impossible_ to stay neutral during one. We would have had to fight in this regardless of whether or not we were given a choice.”

“I’m so _tired_ , Ghirahim,” Link whispered, hanging his head, “First, it was against you and everything you stood for, but now...” He moved closer, hiding his face in the side of his companion’s neck. “Now we’re in a different world, and if we make it through this, who knows how long we’ll be here? I’m so _sick_ of _fighting_ , and I just want it all to _stop_. I want to go _home,_ but the only thing waiting for me, for _us_ , is _more_ fighting...”

“Oh, Skychild...” the demon sighed, wrapping his arms around the hero. “Take my word for it. Once this is over, you’ll struggle to settle into a normal routine, and you’ll be stricken with wanderlust. Everything in life will feel far too mundane, and you’ll crave battle,” a pause, “Well, perhaps not _crave_ , but it _will_ make you feel alive again.” Link felt Ghirahim press his lips to the top of his head before the latter continued in a melancholy tone.

“It’s simply the nature of weapons like us.”

They stayed that way for a few minutes, taking comfort in each other’s presence, before the familiar chill of dementors washed over them. Link weakly glared at the creatures before flinching back when he realized how _many_ there were. There had to be at least ten of them. Link gave Ghirahim a soft squeeze before they stood back up and drew their wands. In perfect sync, the hero and the demon cast their patronuses.

It wasn’t his loftwing that appeared, Link noticed, blinking in surprise. It was a northern shrike. He glanced at his companion, who looked just as startled by the fennec fox that had appeared for him. The silvery creatures charged forward and the dementors started to fall back. Neither of them sensed an extra person approaching.

“Sectum Sempra!”

The shrike disappeared.

\-------------------------------

Everything happened in slow-motion.

Ghirahim watched in horror as Link crumpled to the ground, bleeding freely and endlessly.

The attacker was laughing.

Ghirahim hit them with a body binding curse.

The attacker dropped.

Ghirahim disarmed them.

Link was still bleeding.

His Skychild was _dying._

He dropped to his knees and held the hero close.

“Link? Link!” Shocked tears pricked his eyes. “Stay with me, I’ll get you to the hospital wing-”

“Ghi...ra...hi...m...”

The demon looked down at his partner, who was fading fast.

“What is it, Skychild?” His voice was shaking, but his eyes never left the hero’s face.

Link slowly, painstakingly, raised a bloody trembling hand, and placed it gently on Ghirahim’s cheek, carefully drawing the demon’s face closer. He didn’t fight it, running one of his hands through the other’s matted blond hair. Blood was starting to trickle out of the boy’s mouth, and it left a mark when the hero weakly kissed him. Tears were freely falling from the demon’s eyes now.

“I’m...” Link’s voice rattled, his eyelids slowly drooping, “...so… tir...ed...”

He stilled.

The hero was dead.

The demon openly wept.

There was a groan from behind him, and Ghirahim remembered the attacker. He gently closed his deceased (friend? companion? ...lover?)’s eyes and set him lightly on the ground.

Ghirahim felt cold inside.

He snapped the attacker’s wand and transfigured the pieces into swords.

_So cold._

He savored the Death Eater’s screams as he sliced them to ribbons.

Link’s body had disappeared.

Ghirahim eyed the spot the hero had died in, seeing no evidence of the murder aside from an imprint in the grass. Not even a drop of blood. He drew in a breath, eyes widening.

_Is this...?_

The demon brandished both of his transfigured swords, carelessly charging into the fray.

_If death is the only way to get home…_

Then he was going to go out with a bang.

\------------------------

It was dark.

It was bright.

It was both and neither at the same time.

Link was floating.

Where was he?

There was nothing around him but the strange bright darkness.

Was he dead?

He must have been.

He closed his eyes in thought.

_I died. In the battle._ _I… failed. We won’t… be able to find a way home. All because I couldn’t stay alive for one fight._

He squeezed his eyes shut even more tightly, failing to contain his guilty tears.

_I’m sorry, Ghirahim. I should have paid more attention. This is_ _all_ _my fault._

Link rubbed his eyes, opening them to stare blankly into the distance.

There was a red thread tied around his pinky finger.

_That’s… That’s the red thread of fate that he’s always going on about._

The hero replaced his shock with determination and started following the string. It felt like he was following it for centuries, but he finally got to the end.

It was a screen, or some type of portal, showing the battle.

Ghirahim was surrounded by enemies, his blades flying and cutting several of them down.

Link pressed against the unyielding portal, desperate to help. He saw a volley of spells fly toward the demon, and cried out.

“Look out!”

They locked eyes.

A green spell hit the demon in the back.

Ghirahim dropped.

The dark light shattered.

\-----------------------

Link groaned. His head was _pounding._ What had happened to cause _that?_ Oh, right. He’d been battling alongside Ghirahim, and had dropped dead from a spell.

Wait. Where had he gone after that? Some kind of purgatory?

Link opened his eyes and sat up far too quickly, causing him to gasp in pain. _T_ _his_ _… s_ _eems familiar_ _._ He laid back down carefully, rolling over to press his forehead against the blessedly cool ground. It had been dark, he’d noticed in the brief instant he’d had his eyes open. That wasn’t surprising- the battle had happened in the middle of the night. What he _couldn’t_ explain was why he felt so… intact. He remembered laying in the grass and bleeding out in his former enemy’s arms.

There was a gentle breeze coming from somewhere, and Link opened his eyes. The area was big, round, dark, and very much _not_ the hospital wing or the Department of Mysteries. It was the Sealed Grounds. A few feet away from him came a groan and slight shifting, and Link whirled around.

“Ghirahim!”

“Ugh...” the demon had a hand against his head, disoriented, “...Skychild?”

He looked different, Link noticed. The school robes he’d grown used to over the last seven years were gone, and the demon had returned to his true form of obsidian and alabaster, the red gem in his chest once again damaged.

“Ghirahim,” Link began, voice thick, “we’re home.” He watched the demon sit up and gave him a moment to collect himself before latching onto him in a vice grip. “We’re finally home. We died, but it _brought us home._ ”

“Home...” Ghirahim echoed, clutching Link tightly.

They stayed that way until a violent rumbling knocked them over in a tangle of limbs. The hero and the demon exchanged a look, tension suddenly overwhelming as they realized something.

No time had passed here.

The ritual had finished.

Demise was awake.

**Author's Note:**

> I’M SORRY. I didn’t want to tag Major Character Death, since no one permanently died, but let me know if I should change that. I left the ending kind of open, so you can interpret it however you want. Link’s last words were originally going to be “I like your nails” as a callback to Amortentia, but it just didn’t feel right with how serious the scene was.
> 
> It’s been quite the adventure, hasn’t it? I’ve spent the last month and a half writing these so I could finish them before posting them, and this last part is the longest thing I’ve written in years.
> 
> There _will_ be a couple of epilogues (a “good” ending, a “bad” ending, and maybe something else) posted as a separate 2-3 chapter story later, and I miiiight put up another series of oneshots (wrapped neatly into one fic) for side stories. I have a few ideas for those, but they’ll probably be pretty short.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me through this crazy story. It means a lot. See you in the next one!


End file.
